By Angela Fabunan
We live in a world very different from the years preceding this one. We now live in a world struggling to survive the deaths, the sickness, and the chaos that came hand-in-hand with the global COVID-19 pandemic. In this confusing world where there are so many questions and no final answers, how can the science, the study, and the practice of astrology help to alleviate these worries?
On May 17, Astrologer Resti Santiago conducted the Bounce Back Astrology webinar, a two-part series along with Astrology Forecast & Choices seminar. In these two seminars, he referred to both Greco-Western astrology as well the Eastern Feng Shui method of analysis.
Astrology is a good mediator of fate and freedom. On the one hand, it gives us a blueprint in which certain predictions can be made due to the placement of the planets, as well as calculations on our birth chart. On the other hand, it gives us time to plan ahead and change these outcomes.
The great philosopher Seneca once said “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” Sir Resti said to us. Astrology is the opportunity part, while our own human will is the preparation aspect of luck. Beginners of Feng Shui know the concept of cosmic trinity: Heaven Luck, Earth Luck, and Man Luck. It’s true as well of the Hellenistic astrology, with its philosophies of the virtues of man at the forefront of the study.
“Both systems teach us that no matter what the situation is,” Sir Resti remarked during the webinar, “you can still harness the energy in the environment to your advantage.” That’s where our free will comes in.
Resti Santiago showed to us in this webinar how to use Life Cycle Calendar*, a device he himself created, which would help in both short-term planning and long-term planning, as well as the Health Cycle Calendar, which shows the years or months most vulnerable as well as the times of our strongest vitality.
Filipino Astrologer Timing Essentials are also great references for both Venus hour and Jupiter hour, wherein we can plan our most opportune moments with these benefic planets.
We know our lives unfold themselves as part of cycles. Our own internal bodies, made up of atoms which are all electrically charged due to the pull of electromagnetism, are affected by traditional galactic pull such as light as well as technological advances in this century. Modern metaphysics can explain this and add weight to electromagnetism, and thus explain the science of astromagnetism—how subatomic particles are magnetized due to the movement of the planets. These biological cycles, as well as these concepts of magnetism, have been studied and investigated by modern scientists, particularly physicists.
It has been said that the Black Plague in the 1300s during the medieval times was the biggest cause of death our world has ever seen, at 150,000 deaths worldwide. The Black Plague occurred during the early experimentations on capitalism. The emphasis on land, or anything to do with the earth, during the feudal times of the medieval period seem comparable to the capitalist systems we have today which have emphasized land-ownership [—these are lingering aspects of the Era of Earth, which precedes the Era of Air].
At the same time, there was also a conjunction of Saturn and Pluto around the time of the Black Plague, with a similarity to the January 13, 2020 Saturn and Pluto conjunction.
If we were to compare these two global epidemics which claimed many lives worldwide, from an astrological standpoint, the calamity of the Black Plague was followed by the Renaissance—ushering in the Era of Air. It has been predicted that a similar trend will follow in this decade, when the Era of Air, officially begins on December 22, 2020.
So, the future doesn’t look so dire, although it certainly seems dire at the moment. Due to the conjunction between Pluto and Saturn this past January, it seems as if Saturn has imposed boundaries upon us, like a strict father looking over his children, he has bound us locally in our respective distant places, away from crowds, while Pluto shows the world what our shadow selves look like. And yet, Saturn in astrology, according to Resti Santiago, gives us rewards in return for our plight. Saturn will officially leave us alone in 2022, but while this planet is here, it seems as if the boundaries and limitations will continue to be applicable.
In this continuation of the Astrology Forecast and Choices, this Bounce Back Astrology webinar showed good things to come in the Era of Air, where certain rewards will be felt—technology will be on the rise and all industries related to this, anything to do with ideas will be respected and appreciated, and all things that conduct themselves through the air or airwaves.
It is easy to predict these outcomes now that we are living in a world with virtually everyone online. Yet, astrologers have known these outcomes even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which shows just how much astrology is needed to predict and to offset unfavorable outcomes, to show the best aspects of ourselves in our personal and interpersonal lives, and to navigate the opportune moments of this world, for now, for today and for tomorrow.
Angela Gabrielle Fabunan is a writer and editor from the Philippines. Her work has appeared in Cordite, Cha, and Asymptote, among others. Her first book of poetry, The Sea That Beckoned, was published by Platypus Press in 2019. She is currently a poetry editor for Inklette Magazine.
Life Cycle Calendar will be made available to Platinum Subscribers of Filipino Astrologer Timing Essentials.